Norton Loses Her Spring Valley Health Effects Study Amendment, but Wins the Issue
Norton Loses Her Spring Valley Health Effects Study Amendment, but Wins the Issue
July 7, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC - As expected in the Republican-controlled House, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill to provide $1 million to study the health effects of the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) was defeated today on the House floor by a voice vote, but the Congresswoman won anyway. Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Norman Dicks (D-WA) assured Norton in his remarks on the floor, and afterwards in a conversation with her, that he would work with her to get the funds administratively from the Department of Defense (DOD). Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) also noted on the floor that the defense bill will include more than $200 million specifically allocated for the cleanup of FUDSs, and that there was still a chance for Norton to secure money for the Spring Valley study if the DOD agrees. While it was always possible to request funding for a health study, Norton's first priority was to ensure that the annual Spring Valley FUDS cleanup funds were not interrupted, particularly in the past few years of difficult budget environments. However, with the DOD bill coming up, she decided to go to the floor today because, even though the amendment would surely fail, an amendment would give her leverage to seek funding administratively.
Norton said, "I appreciate the constituent who asked me at the July 4th Palisades parade whether I could get any additional funds to do a comprehensive health study at Spring Valley. D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) got $250,000 set aside from the city, but all agreed that the needed study could not be undertaken without almost $1 million. I said I would try. I knew that if I could get an amendment to the floor, success might be possible even without winning the funds there. Now with help from my good friend, Norm Dicks, I believe we can get there."
Norton cautioned that the timing for getting such funds is unclear, and DOD can still turn the District down administratively. She said she would rely on the fact that she now has help from the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee and was encouraged by the sympathetic remarks from the subcommittee chair.
The District of Columbia government has already set aside $250,000 of its own money to do a follow-up to a 2007 city-funded health study on Spring Valley, even though clean-up of the Spring Valley FUDS is the federal government's responsibility. The city estimates that it needs $750,000 to complete the new study.
Norton, who has worked for years to ensure there would be no problem in the flow of funds to properly remove and destroy World War I munitions at Spring Valley, recently spoke out against an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that would have cut $197 million for FUDSs, but was assured that Spring Valley money would continue. In 2009, she got the Army Corps of Engineers, for the first time, to release the full list of munitions and toxins found at the site during the last 18 years. Since munitions were first discovered there in 1993, Norton has repeatedly toured Spring Valley sites, has held a series of community meetings and congressional hearings, and has witnessed the destruction of the munitions to ensure the appropriate precautions are taken in the cleanup of the site.